Archaelund

About

"Archaelund is a single-player Role Playing Game with an interesting plot and good graphics. The game offers exploration in a vast open world with first-person perspective and seamless transition to top-down perspective for turn-based combat. Characters have a deep and engaging progression system, starting from street ruffians, squires, hunters or beggars and advancing through a career-based system."

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 430 reviews

story24 positive mentions

optimization4 negative mentions

The game combines old-school and modern RPG elements, providing an immersive first-person exploration experience with strategic turn-based combat.
Character creation is deep and allows for a variety of party compositions, enhancing replayability and player engagement.
The developer is responsive to feedback and actively works on updates, showing commitment to improving the game based on player input.

The game suffers from balance issues, particularly in combat, where RNG can lead to frustrating experiences and a lack of meaningful progression.
There are significant loading times and performance issues, which detract from the overall experience, especially in an early access title.
The world feels sparse and lacks sufficient content, leading to tedious exploration and a sense of emptiness in the open world.

story
88 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
70%
3%
The game's story is praised for its engaging world-building, humor, and the potential for deeper narratives as future content is released. However, players note that the quest system can be vague and poorly structured, leading to confusion about progression and mission requirements. While the storyline has its strengths, including interesting characters and varied dialogue options, some players feel it lacks coherence and depth compared to other RPGs.
- “The world, the storyline, the characters, different dialog options leading to different results - real role-playing!”
- “I could probably talk for twenty minutes about my appreciation for the in-depth character and quest design, but the lore is what placed Exiled Kingdoms squarely atop the pedestal as one of the most interesting and exciting games I've ever played.”
- “The story complements the gameplay well, with a unique world and lore that holds your interest.”
- “The storyline does not make much sense, and missions are locked behind faction points as well as skills, and there are not many missions.”
- “They do not get introduced in the storyline, so I am really left alone in the game with unknown people.”
- “In an RPG like this, if you give me quests, I'm going to try to do the ones closest to town first, but the quests are very vague. If you don't complete the easy couple ones in the first town, you can spend a lot of time wondering how to get XP and where to progress, as the first 'major' quest requires you to have reputation with the first town.”
gameplay
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
73%
7%
The gameplay of Archaelund offers a solid and engaging experience, with nuanced mechanics that reflect the developers' passion, despite some elements being basic and in need of refinement. Players can expect around 30-40 hours of content even in its early access state, though challenges can arise, particularly in the early game. While the game shows promise with its character mechanics and unique world, it still has areas for improvement, such as UI and animation quality, and the implementation of additional features and classes.
- “Would absolutely recommend this game, even at this early state in early access, with only 2 regions implemented so far, since you're already looking at 30-40 hours of gameplay with plenty more to come.”
- “The gameplay is that well crafted; you can tell that this game is a work of passion for the creator, not just a 9 to 5.”
- “The gameplay is satisfying when you are in control, but you can easily be overwhelmed in the beginning stretch of the game as you usually have to face up to more than 6 enemies at once.”
- “I understand why they're there, and why devs think they're needed/interesting, but you can just as easily bake the hidden functionality in an awareness stat, or a single perception skill with little to no effect on the gameplay experience.”
- “In fact, everything is pretty basic besides the core gameplay, as expected from a small dev team.”
- “Add in a terrible flanking mechanic that is crucial due to how bad the accuracy system is at telling your actual hit chance, and the multitude of classes that benefit from flanking makes it an experience of RNG over skill or strategy.”
graphics
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
55%
7%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the detailed visuals and lighting reminiscent of classic RPGs like Morrowind and Skyrim, while others criticize them as outdated and rudimentary, especially in animations. Players note that the game can be graphically intensive, leading to performance issues on lower-end hardware, but overall, many find the graphics to be decent for an early access title. Despite the criticisms, some reviewers highlight the game's unique blend of old-school charm with modern graphical elements, suggesting it has potential as it continues to develop.
- “I was smitten from the sample that I played from the smooth gameplay and detailed graphics of the game, beautiful orchestral soundtrack.”
- “The graphics and lighting are quite nice to look at even though some people would think it's outdated.”
- “I see elements from so many awesome games in the genre, like Might & Magic 6, Morrowind, Gothic, Divinity: Original Sin, and so many more, all blended together perfectly into a unique fusion of a modern game with great graphics and an old-school open-world feel.”
- “Sorry, but the graphics and gameplay are worse than games I played in the 90s.”
- “You can clearly tell this is their first ever game; it's not that good graphically, and the modeling and action movement animations like casting and fighting look rudimentary.”
- “My biggest issue is that I have to play on the lowest graphic settings possible with 720p just to get 30fps.”
optimization
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
65%
20%
The game currently suffers from significant optimization issues, including bugs, long loading times, and high memory usage, which detract from the overall experience. Many users express hope that future updates will address these concerns, especially given its early access status, but they acknowledge that substantial work is needed for a polished and smoother gameplay experience.
- “Optimization is not only encouraged but a necessity.”
- “I think I will make an optimized party on my second campaign.”
- “It's only early access now, so I'm sure when the game is finished it will be much more polished, optimized, smoother, etc.”
- “At the moment it needs a lot of bug fixes, balance changes, and optimization.”
- “It's janky, old school, in somewhat desperate need of loading time optimization (only on reloading, not area transitions so much), and is going to need about 2 years worth of work to be complete.”
- “It's also poorly optimized and has issues eating up memory.”
music
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The music in the game has received widespread praise for its atmospheric quality, effectively enhancing the overall experience without being intrusive. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack as a standout feature, noting its ability to complement the game's graphics and settings beautifully. Overall, the music is described as fitting and engaging, contributing to the game's promise as a top contender for the year.
- “The music is great, atmospheric without getting in the way.”
- “Music is decent and fits the atmosphere of each location.”
- “Despite the fact it is still in early access, it seems to be the most promising game of the year - excellent graphics and music, interesting plot, variety of races and classes, and, of course, realms of Arkania vibes!”
atmosphere
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
71%
15%
14%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its inviting and intriguing qualities, drawing comparisons to titles like Skyrim and Baldur's Gate. The visuals and music effectively enhance the experience, creating a captivating environment that keeps players engaged and curious about the unfolding questline. Overall, it successfully combines nostalgic elements with a fresh feel, making it a standout aspect of the game.
- “This creates a very nice and weirdly inviting atmosphere, a nice contrast.”
- “The music is great, atmospheric without getting in the way.”
- “The game has truly a great atmosphere and questline which really makes you curious what happens next.”
- “For the game's atmosphere, the look is reminiscent of games like Skyrim, while the battles are like those in Baldur's Gate.”
- “Music is decent and fits the atmosphere of each location.”
stability
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game exhibits stability issues primarily characterized by slow and buggy saves, minor visual glitches, and occasional crashes. While these bugs can detract from the experience, the developer is responsive to feedback and has been quick to address critical issues through patches. Overall, while the game is somewhat unoptimized and limited in content, the stability problems are generally minor and manageable.
- “Slow and buggy saves seem to be the main problem, but only a small portion of the finished product seems to be available.”
- “Going to run across some bugs, maybe crashes, graphical glitches, and bad pathing in the terrain.”
- “It has a limited amount of content and is somewhat buggy and unoptimized.”
grinding
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be more tedious than enjoyable, particularly during early levels where combat feels repetitive. While there is potential for fun, the current experience is marred by a lack of polish, balance, and content, leading to a grind-heavy gameplay that could take 30-40 hours to progress through. Despite these issues, some reviewers still see promise in the game and recommend it for its potential.
- “Sadly it’s more tedious than fun.”
- “It's just too tedious leveling up.”
- “Even for early access, everything is tedious.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the humor in the game, highlighting its witty dialogue that adds a lighthearted touch to an otherwise serious setting filled with deep mysteries and dark secrets. This blend of humor and storytelling enhances the overall enjoyment of the game, making exploration and discovery more engaging.
- “The game is full of humorous dialogue which made Exiled Kingdoms a blast, even though the setting is serious and there are implications of profound mysteries and dark secrets.”
- “What can I say? I love the world, the storytelling, the humor, and discovering new stuff in the world.”
emotional
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is criticized for lacking depth, with users noting the absence of voice acting and character interactions that typically foster emotional connections. This results in a generic and frustrating experience reminiscent of unvaried combat encounters in other titles, such as Dragon Age 2.
replayability
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Players highlight that "Archaelund," even in its early access phase, offers significant replayability, making it an engaging experience that encourages multiple playthroughs. The game's design and mechanics contribute to its high replay value, similar to other well-regarded titles.
- “Even in early access, the game is amazing and has a lot of replay value.”
- “So far, Archaelund has presented itself to be an immensely replayable game, just like EK.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization model is praised for avoiding pay-to-win mechanics and microtransactions, focusing instead on solid game design.
- “No pay to win or microtransactions, just good game design!”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
Character development is highly dynamic, offering a vast array of skill and capability combinations for each character, which adds depth but can complicate party selection.
- “Character development is truly dynamic with innumerable possible combinations for skills and capabilities across every character, which makes it challenging to settle on a party.”

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Archaelund
$19.99
See offer on Steam

40h Median play time

28h Average play time

4-40h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 6 analyzed playthroughs

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